Doesn't this mean life begins at birth?

Question

Genesis 2:7
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

So here we have a full human body, trillions of billions of cells, all fully formed, and it's not until he gets the "breath" of life which makes him a soul. Couldn't we infer from this that the soul enters the body upon first breath (outside the womb)?

That would really resolve all those tricky questions theologians haven't been able to answer about the "soul enters at conception" (such as when two conceived "souls" merge into one body and become a chimera), doesn't it?

Answer 1

Jer. 1:5
5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

This scriptures tells us that we were in heaven with God BEFORE we were born.

Answer 2

It is true that God breaths life into all of us. It is also true that God creates us...weaving us while we are yet in the womb as many Scriptures states.
Adam's creation, however, is completely different from ours. So much so, that I expect Adam did not even have a belly button. THerefore, you are comparing apples to oranges.
For those of us born after Adam's creation, I believe life begins at the moment of conception. No other process can start the creation of a human...that process makes us change in appearance and capabilities through our entire life until we cannot breath any more. At no two days are we ever exactly alike...still we are who we are and we are alive.
At the moment of conception, that infant has its own unique DNA. As it grows it has its own movements, heart, brain, muscles, closed blood system, and all the cells are oxidizing, just like they do when the lungs provide the oxygen, rather than the umbilical cord. The fact that the organ known as the lungs takes in air for the first time is no definition of life...oxidation has been taking place for the previous 9 months.
Biblically, God says He weaves us in the womb. I believe life begins at conception. I also therefore think that abortion (apart from saving a mother's life) is legalized murder.
It's a shame, and reflects the depraved state of our moral fabric in our society.

Answer 3

No. Babies are not created. They are conceived and are living from the moment of conception. The fact that they are not breathing is not the factor that makes them alive. If that were the case, than the absence of breath would be death in which instance a person is already dead if they require a respirator in order for the body to function. A baby in the womb is at a different stage of maturity as time goes by but it is never the less a human being right from the beginning.

Answer 4

Some rabbinical writers have asserted that ensoulment occurs at the first breath based on that passage from the Geneis myth, but I think most rabbis today would say the fetus belongs to the woman and it's her call, and all the argument about ensoulment is a Christian debate.

And Jinenglish68, like most Christians, reads things into the text that are not there. If God is all knowing forward and backward in time then his statement is simply a statement that he knew Jeremiah would be born and how he would turn out. It was not a statement that Jeremiah was a person in the womb ith all the rights of a living being and certainly not a statement that he is a person from the moment of fertilization.

Answer 5

You're right, Adam wasn't alive till he was fully formed, as an adult.
None of us came in to being like Adam did.
If you're going to quote the Bible then you should look at these verses too.

Psalm 139:14-16
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Or this one, saying that we are sinful from conception, not birth. If there's no soul there would be no share in the guilt of our race.

Psalm 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

it doesn't sat from birth is says at birth (as in already at birth) and that everything about us even the guilt Jesus died to pay for, starts at conception.

PS "Depths of the Earth" is poetic for womb.

Answer 6

First, show me the soul - then I will tell you when it "might" enter the body. Your question is one of many like - how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. That has fascinated theologians for centuries, and maybe you can help answer it.

Answer 7

your theological theory might resolve the tricky questions if the objection to abortion were truly about when a zygote becomes a human but it's not. the anti-choice people don't really care about "babies". if they did they'd be more focused on the health and well being of those already breathing but instead they cheer on a war that kills and maims thousands and complain about their tax money going to welfare to feed the babies born into poverty.
the anti-choice movement is about removing a woman's right to chose, to deny her the right of autonomy over her own body, to make her a slave to her husband and her reproductive organs, to put her back in the kitchen in a position of servitude where she belongs. some of these nutcases would go so far as banning birth control if they could.

Answer 8

"I knew you before you were born"

I am glad that my Mother did not feel that way.

Have you seen the video showing the 3rd. trimester abortions? These children could live outside the womb, but are being killed before they can be born. By your definition, that would be fine.

Do you know what they do to those babies? Do you really care?

I won't go into the disgusting details here, Google 3rd. trimester abortion......

Then tell us that life does not begin until a baby can breath on it's own.

Peace and God Bless!

Answer 9

God said that before you were created in the womb, He knew you.

Accordingly, life began when God conceived of us, not when we were conceived by our parents.

Answer 10

Life exists well before birth, in the sperm of man and the ovary of woman. Birth is the result of the two joining to form the one.